Ghana national football team

Ghana

Nickname(s)	The Black Stars
Association	Ghana Football Association
Confederation	CAF (Africa)
Head coach	Goran Stevanović
Captain	John Mensah
Most caps	Richard Kingson (87)
Top scorer	Abedi Pele (33)
Home stadium	Ohene Djan Sports Stadium Baba Yara Stadium Tamale Stadium Sekondi Stadium
FIFA code	GHA
First colours Second colours Third colours
FIFA ranking
Current	15
Highest	14 (February, April, May 2008)
Lowest	89 (June 2004)
First international
Gold Coast 1–0 Nigeria (Accra, Gold Coast; 28 May 1950)
Biggest win
Kenya 0–10 Ghana (London, Great Britain; 12 December 2001)
Biggest defeat
Bulgaria 10–0 Ghana (Leon, Mexico; 2 October 1968)
World Cup
Appearances	2 (first in 2006)
Best result	Quarter-finals, 2010
African Cup of Nations
Appearances	17 (first in 1963)
Best result	Winners, 1963, 1965, 1978, 1982

Olympic medal record
Men's Football
	1992 Barcelona	Team

The Ghana national football team, popularly known as the Black Stars, is the national association football team of Ghana and is controlled by the Ghana Football Association. Before gaining independence from Great Britain in 1957, the country played as the Gold Coast.

Although the team did not qualify for the senior FIFA World Cup until 2006, they had qualified for five straight Olympic Games Football Tournaments when the tournament was still a full senior national team competition. The team has won the Africa Cup of Nations four times (in 1963, 1965, 1978, and 1982), making Ghana the second most successful team in the contest's history, behind Egypt. The Olympic Team, the Black Meteors, in 1992 became the first African country to win a medal at football.

After going through 2005 unbeaten, Ghana won the FIFA most improved team of the year award and they reached the second round of the 2006 FIFA World Cup led by Serbian football coach, Ratomir Dujković.

At the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, they became the third African team in history to reach the World Cup quarter-finals.

History

The Ghana Amateur Football Association was founded in 1957, soon after the country's independence, and was affiliated to both CAF and FIFA the following year, Englishman George Ainsley being appointed coach of the national team.

In 1960 the Black Stars played Spanish giants Real Madrid, who were at the time Spanish, European and intercontinental champions, and drew 3–3.

Charles Kumi Gyamfi became coach in 1961, and Ghana won successive Africa Cup of Nations titles, in 1963 and 1965, and achieved their record win, 13–0 away to Kenya, shortly after the second of these. They also reached the final of the tournament in 1968 and 1970, losing 1–0 on each occasion, to DR Congo and Sudan respectively. Their domination of this tournament earned the country the nickname of "the Brazil of Africa" in the 1960s. The team had no success in FIFA World Cup qualification during this era, and failed to qualify for three successive African Cup of Nations in the 1970s, but qualified for the Olympic Games Football Tournaments, reaching the quarter finals in 1964 and withdrawing on political grounds in 1976 and but making little progress in continent-wide competitions until the appointment of Burkhard Ziese as coach in 1991. The 1992 African Cup of Nations, after three failures to reach the final tournament, saw Ghana finish second, beaten on penalties in the final by Côte d'Ivoire.

Disharmony among the squad, which eventually led to parliamentary and executive intervention to settle issues between two of the team, Abedi Pele and Anthony Yeboah, may have played some part in the failure of the team to build on the successes of the national underage teams. Ghana slipped to 89th place in the FIFA World Rankings, but a new generation of players who went to the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship final became the core of the team at the 2002 African Cup of Nations and the 2004 Olympic Games, and were undefeated for a year in 2005 and reached the finals of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the first time the team had reached the global stage of the tournament. Ghana started with a 2–0 defeat to eventual champions Italy, but wins over the Czech Republic (2–0) and USA (2–1) saw them through to the second round, where they were beaten 3–0 by Brazil.

The Black Stars went on to secure a 100 percent record in their qualification campaign, winning the group and becoming the first African team to qualify for 2010 FIFA World Cup. The World Cup Draw in Cape Town on the 4 December 2009 saw the Ghanaian team being placed alongside Germany, Serbia and Australia in Group D. They were able to reach the last 16 where they played the USA, defeating them 2–1 in extra time to become the third African nation to reach the World Cup quarterfinals. They then lost on penalties to Uruguay in the quarterfinals, having missed a penalty in extra time after a certain goal was saved off the line by Luis Suarez's deliberately parried handball who was then shown a red card for his actions.

Match results

Serbia v Ghana

13 June 2010 2010 FIFA World Cup	Serbia	0 – 1	Ghana	Pretoria, South Africa
16:00 UTC+2		Report	Gyan 85' (pen.)	Stadium: Loftus Versfeld Stadium Attendance: 38,833 Referee: Héctor Baldassi (Argentina)

Ghana v Australia

19 June 2010 2010 FIFA World Cup	Ghana	1 – 1	Australia	Rustenburg, South Africa
16:00 UTC+2	Gyan 25' (pen.)	Report	Holman 11'	Stadium: Royal Bafokeng Stadium Attendance: 34,812 Referee: Roberto Rosetti (Italy)

Ghana v Germany

23 June 2010 2010 FIFA World Cup	Ghana	0 – 1	Germany	Johannesburg, South Africa
20:30 UTC+2		Report	Özil 60'	Stadium: Soccer City Attendance: 83,391 Referee: Carlos Eugênio Simon (Brazil)

United States v Ghana

26 June 2010 2010 FIFA World Cup	United States	1 – 2 (a.e.t.)	Ghana	Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg
20:30 UTC+2	Donovan 62' (pen.)	Report	Boateng 5' Gyan 93'	Attendance: 34,976 Referee: Viktor Kassai (Hungary)

Uruguay v Ghana

2 July 2010 2010 FIFA World Cup	Uruguay	1 – 1 (a.e.t.) 4 – 2 (p.s.o.)	Ghana	Soccer City, Johannesburg
20:30 UTC+2	Forlan 55'	Report	Muntari 45+2'	Attendance: 84,017 Referee: Olegario Benquerenca Portugal

South Africa v Ghana

11 August 2010 International Friendly	South Africa	1 – 0	Ghana	FNB Stadium, Johannesburg
UTC+2	Mphela 42'	Report		Attendance: 40,000

Eswatini v Ghana

3 September 2010 2012 CAF Qualifying	Eswatini	0 – 3	Ghana	Lobamba, Swaziland
15:00 UTC+2				Stadium: Somhlolo National Stadium

Ghana v Sudan

10 October 2010 2012 CAF Qualifying	Ghana	0 – 0	Sudan	Kumasi, Ghana
17:00 UTC+0				Stadium: Baba Yara Stadium Attendance: 39,000

Ghana v Togo

8 February 2011 International Friendly	Ghana	4 – 1	Togo	Antwerp, Belgium
20:00 GMT				Stadium: Bosuilstadion Referee: Vervecken

Congo v Ghana

27 March 2011 2012 CAF Qualifying	Congo	0 – 3	Ghana	Brazzaville, Congo
15:30 UTC+1			Tagoe 5' Adiyiah 26' Muntari 68'	Stadium: Stade de la Revolution

England v Ghana

29 March 2011 International Friendly	England	1 – 1	Ghana	London, England
20:00 UTC+1	Carroll 43'		Gyan 90+1'	Stadium: Wembley Stadium

Team honours

• Template:Sport honours

• Template:Sport honours

• Template:Sport honours

• Template:Sport honours

• Template:Sport honours

World Cup record

FIFA World Cup record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930	Did not enter
1934
1938
1950
1954
1958
1962	Did not qualify
1966	Withdrew
1970	Did not qualify
1974
1978
1982	Withdrew
1986	Did not qualify
1990
1994
1998
2002
2006	Round of 16	13th	4	2	0	2	4	6
2010	Quarter-Final	7th	5	2	2	1	5	4
Total	Quarter-Final	2/19	9	4	2	3	9	10

The Ghana national team at the 2008 African Cup of Nations before the quarter-final match against Nigeria.

African Nations Cup record

African Cup of Nations
Titles: 4 Appearances: 18
Year	Position		Year	Position		Year	Position
1957	Did not enter		1976	Did not qualify		1994	Quarter-finals
1959	Did not enter		1978	Champions		1996	Fourth Place
1962	Did not qualify		1980	Round 1		1998	Round 1
1963	Champions		1982	Champions		2000	Quarter-finals
1965	Champions		1984	Round 1		2002	Quarter-finals
1968	Second Place		1986	Did not qualify		2004	Did not qualify
1970	Second Place		1988	Did not qualify		2006	Round 1
1972	Did not qualify		1990	Did not qualify		2008	Third Place
1974	Did not qualify		1992	Second Place		2010	Second Place

For 2010, see 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF)

Ghana were the only African side to advance to Round 2 of 2006 FIFA World Cup (Côte d'Ivoire, Togo, Angola, and Tunisia were all eliminated in group play), and the sixth nation in a row from Africa to progress beyond the group stages of the World Cup. Ghana was the youngest team in the FIFA World Cup 2006 with an average age of 23 yrs and 352 days.

Because of Ghana's performances in the tournament, there has been praise for their continuous efforts to push forward and their fearless attitude. Greek Coach Otto Rehhagel told FIFA.com, "the teams you used to regard as a little behind tactically, the Africans for example, have caught up. They're physically even better off than we are, as they have tremendous natural athleticism, and they've come on enormously in the areas which were non-existent before, discipline and tactics for example. Every team which faced Ghana or Cote d'Ivoire knew they'd been in a game." Of their 2006 performance, FIFA.com said, "Ghana are surely a side in ascendancy."

Of the 32 countries that participated in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Ghana was ranked 13th by FIFA.[1]

2006 FIFA World Cup Matches
Category	Team A	Result	Team B	Date	Venue	Scorers
Round of 16	Brazil	3–0	Ghana	27 June	Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund	Brazil: Ronaldo 5, Adriano 45+, Zé Roberto 84 [2] First Half; Second Half
Group E	Ghana	2–1	United States	22 June	Frankenstadion, Nuremberg	Ghana Dramani 22, Appiah 47+; USA: Clint Dempsey 43)[3] Pre-Match; 1st Half; 2nd half
Group E	Ghana	2–0	Czech Republic	17 June	RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne	Ghana: Asamoah 2, Muntari 82) [4]
Group E	Italy	2–0	Ghana	12 June	AWD-Arena, Hannover	Italy: Pirlo, 40 Iaquinta 83)[5]

Players

Goals

Pos.	Player	FM	WCQ	CAN	WC	Overall
1	Asamoah Gyan	14	2	4	4	24
2	Sulley Muntari	11	4	2	2	18
3	Matthew Amoah	4	8	1	0	13
4	Junior Agogo	5	4	3	0	12
5	Michael Essien	8	2	0	0	10
6	Stephen Appiah	3	2	0	1	6
7	Prince Tagoe	0	3	1	0	5
8	Quincy Owusu-Abeyie	1	0	1	0	2
9	Andre Ayew	0	0	2	0	2
9	Kevin-Prince Boateng	0	0	0	1	2

Current squad

Kingson Paintsil Mensah Vorsah Inkoom Prince Annan Muntari Asamoah Gyan Ayew

Squad

Current squad

The following 24-man squad has been selected for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualification against Congo and the Friendly match against England on March 27 and 29, 2011.

Caps and goals updated as March 29, 2011.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Sammy Adjei	(1983-08-20) August 20, 1983	37	0	Hearts of Oak
16	1GK	Ernest Sowah	(1988-03-31) March 31, 1988	0	0	Berekum Chelsea
22	1GK	Richard Kingson (vice-captain)	(1978-06-13) June 13, 1978	87	1	Blackpool
2	2DF	Daniel Opare	(1990-10-18) October 18, 1990	2	0	Standard Liège
4	2DF	John Paintsil	(1981-06-15) June 15, 1981	66	0	Fulham
5	2DF	John Mensah (captain)	(1982-11-29) November 29, 1982	71	0	Sunderland
7	2DF	Samuel Inkoom	(1989-08-22) August 22, 1989	24	1	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
14	2DF	David Addy	(1990-02-21) February 21, 1990	12	0	Académica
15	2DF	Isaac Vorsah	(1988-06-11) June 11, 1988	20	0	Hoffenheim
17	2DF	Lee Addy	(1990-09-26) September 26, 1990	19	0	Red Star Belgrade
19	2DF	Jonathan Mensah	(1990-07-13) July 13, 1990	11	1	Granada
6	3MF	Anthony Annan	(1986-07-21) July 21, 1986	43	1	Schalke 04
8	3MF	Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu	(1990-12-02) December 2, 1990	19	0	Udinese
9	3MF	Derek Boateng	(1983-05-02) May 2, 1983	24	3	Getafe
10	3MF	Kwadwo Asamoah	(1988-09-09) September 9, 1988	27	1	Udinese
11	3MF	Sulley Muntari	(1984-08-27) August 27, 1984	60	18	Sunderland
13	3MF	André Ayew	(1989-12-17) December 17, 1989	30	2	Marseille
20	3MF	Bennard Yao Kumordzi	(1985-03-21) March 21, 1985	8	1	Panionios
	3MF	Opoku Agyemang	(1989-06-07) June 7, 1989	9	0	Al-Ahly Doha
3	4FW	Asamoah Gyan	(1985-11-22) November 22, 1985	47	25	Sunderland
12	4FW	Prince Tagoe	(1986-11-09) November 9, 1986	24	4	Partizan
18	4FW	Dominic Adiyiah	(1989-11-20) November 20, 1989	11	2	Partizan
21	4FW	Emmanuel Clottey	(1987-08-30) 30 August 1987	2	0	Berekum Chelsea
25	4FW	Nathaniel Asamoah	(1990-02-22) February 22, 1990	0	0	Asante Kotoko

Recent callups

The following players have also been called up to the Ghana squad in last twelve months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Isaac Amoako	(1983-08-20) 20 August 1983	17	0	Asante Kotoko	v. Sudan, 9 October 2010
GK	Daniel Agyei	(1989-11-10) 10 November 1989	4	0	Liberty Professionals	v. Eswatini, 5 September 2010
GK	Stephen Ahorlu	(1988-09-05) 5 September 1988	1	0	Hapoel Ashkelon	2010 FIFA World Cup 26 June 2010
DF	Harrison Afful	(1986-06-24) 24 June 1986	31	0	Espérance	v. Saudi Arabia, 17 November 2010
DF	Hans Sarpei	(1976-06-28) 28 June 1976	36	1	Schalke 04	v. Sudan, 9 October 2010
DF	Seth Owusu	(1989-02-28) 28 February 1989	0	0	Chivas USA	v. Sudan, 9 October 2010
DF	Bright Addai	(1992-12-19) 19 December 1992	1	0	All Stars	v. South Africa, 11 August 2010
MF	Kevin-Prince Boateng	(1987-03-06) March 6, 1987	8	1	Milan	v. England, 29 March 2011
MF	Stephen Appiah	(1980-12-24) 24 December 1980	69	16	Cesena	2010 FIFA World Cup 26 June 2010
MF	Abdul Rahim Ayew	(1988-04-16) 16 April 1988	6	0	Lierse	2010 FIFA World Cup 26 June 2010
FW	Matthew Amoah	(1980-10-24) 24 October 1980	44	13	NAC	v. Saudi Arabia, 17 November 2010
FW	Quincy Owusu-Abeyie	(1986-04-15) 15 April 1986	16	2	Málaga	v. Saudi Arabia, 17 November 2010
FW	Jordan Ayew	(1991-09-11) 11 September 1991	2	0	Marseille	v. Sudan, 9 October 2010
FW	Yaw Antwi	(1985-06-15) 15 June 1985	6	2	Vojvodina	v. Eswatini, 5 September 2010

African Player of the Year and other award winning players

In the 1990s, Abédi Pelé and Tony Yeboah received FIFA World Player of the Year top ten nominations: the following decade Sammy Kuffour and Michael Essien received Ballon d'Or nominations. Abédi Pelé was listed in the 2004 "FIFA 100" greatest living footballers.

On 13 January 2007, the Confederation of African Football voted Abedi Pele, Michael Essien, Tony Yeboah, Ibrahim Abdul Razak and Samuel Kuffour as members of the CAF top 30 best African players of all-time. In addition, Abedi and Yeboah were voted as among of the best African players of the century in 1999 by IFFHS.

• Abédi Pelé – FIFA 100, WPOY Nom.1991, 9th 1992, 1991, 1992, 1993 APOY Winner, APOY Nom. 85,86,87,88,89,90, 5th Best African Player of All-Time
• Karim Abdul Razak – 1978 APOY Winner, 6th 1983, 26th Best African Player of All-Time
• Ibrahim Sunday – 1971 APOY Winner
• Samuel Kuffour – Ballon d'Or Nom. 2001, APOY Runner-up 1999,2001, 27th Best African Player of All-Time
• Tony Yeboah – WPOY 9th 1993, Ballon d'Or 23rd 1995, APOY Runner-up 1993, 3rd 1992, 6th 1991, 10th 1996, 24th Best African Player of All-Time
• Michael Essien – FIFA World Player of the Year – 22nd 2005, 22nd 2006, 15th 2007; Ballon d'Or – 24th 2007 27th 2006, 22nd 2005; APOY – 2nd 2007, 3rd 2006, 3rd 2005, 11th Best African Player of All-Time
• Robert Mensah – APOY Runner-up 1971, 9th 1970
• Adolf Armah – APOY Runner-up 1979
• Opoku Nti – APOY Runner-up 1983
• Mohammed Polo – APOY 4th 1977
• Nii Lamptey – APOY 5th 1991, FIFA U-17 Golden Ball, Silver Shoe1991
• Yaw Sam – APOY 6th 1973
• Malik Jabir – APOY 7th 1972
• Albert Asaase – APOY 7th 1982
• Charles Akunnor – APOY 7th 1998
• Osei Kofi – APOY 8th 1970
• Opoku Afriyie – APOY 8th 1982
• Stephen Appiah – APOY 8th 2003

Technical staff

Head Coach	Goran Stevanovic
Assistant Coach	Akwasi Appiah
Fitness Coach	Vacant
Goalkeeping Coach	Edward Ansah
Psychologist	Dr. Yao Mfodwo
Physiotherapist	Charles Botchway
Team Doctor	Dr Percy Annan
2nd Team Doctor	Dr Allan Akaba
Welfare Officer	Opoku Afriyie
Protocol Officer	Alex Asante
Spokesman	Randy Abbey
Kit Manager	Sherif Bobo Musah

Head coaches

Date appointed	Manager name
2011–Present	Goran Stevanović
2010–2011	Kwasi Appiah (interim)
2008–2010	Milovan Rajevac
2008	Sellas Tetteh (interim)
2006–2008	Claude Le Roy
2004–2006	Ratomir Dujković
2004	Sam Arday (interim)
2004	Mariano Barreto
2003	Ralf Zumdick
2003	Burkhard Ziese
2002	Emmanuel Akwasi Afranie
2002	Milan Živadinović
2001–2002	Fred Osam-Duodu
2001	Cecil Jones Attuquayefio

Date appointed	Manager name
2000	Fred Osam-Duodu
1999–2000	Giuseppe Dossena
1997–1998	Rinus Israël
1996–1997	Sam Arday
1996	Ismael Kurtz
1995	Petre Gavrilla
1994	E.J. Aggrey-Fynn
1993–1994	Jørgen E. Larsen
1993	Fred Osam-Duodu
1992–1993	Otto Pfister
1990–1992	Burkhard Ziese
1988–1989	Fred Osam-Duodu
1986–1987	Rudi Gutendorf
1984	Herbert Addo

Date appointed	Manager name
1984	Emmanuel Akwasi Afranie
1982–1983	C. K. Gyamfi^
1978–1981	Fred Osam-Duodu^
1977–1978	O. C. Sampaio
1974–1975	Karl Weigang
1973–1974	Nicolae Nicuşor Dumitru
1968–1970	Karl Heinz Marotzke
1967	Carlos Alberto Parreira
1963 – 1965	C. K. Gyamfi^
1963	József Ember
1959–1962	Adreas Sjolberg
1958–1959	George Ainsley

^Won African Cup of Nations during tenure

Competitive Statistics

FIFA World Cup Record

FIFA World Cup Record	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
World Cup Finals	9	4	2	3	9	10	−1
World Cup Quals (H)	30	20	8	2	57	17	+40
World Cup Quals (A)	29	7	8	14	31	38	−7
World Cup Total	68	31	18	19	97	65	+32

African Cup of Nations Record

Nations Cup Record	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Nations Cup Finals	66	37	13	16	91	56	+35
Nations Cup Quals (H)	31	22	6	3	69	23	+46
Nations Cup Quals (A)	31	11	8	12	42	31	+11
Nations Cup Total	128	70	27	31	202	110	+92

Nations Cup Record by team

Ghana versus	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Ivory Coast	8	5	1	2	17	11	+6
Tunisia	6	5	1	0	10	4	+6
DR Congo	5	3	0	2	8	5	+3
Nigeria	7	3	1	3	7	7	0
Senegal	3	2	1	0	4	2	+2
Congo	3	3	0	0	7	2	+5
Guinea	4	3	1	0	5	2	+3
Zambia	3	2	0	1	3	2	+1
Algeria	3	1	1	1	3	4	−1
South Africa	3	0	1	2	0	4	−4
Egypt	3	1	1	1	2	2	0
Morocco	3	1	1	1	2	1	+1
Sudan	2	1	0	1	3	1	+2
Burkina Faso	2	2	0	0	5	1	+4
Cameroon	3	0	2	1	1	2	−1
Libya	2	0	2	0	3	3	0
Togo	2	1	0	1	3	2	+1
Ethiopia	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2
Uganda	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2
Malawi	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1
Mozambique	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2
Namibia	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1
Zimbabwe	1	0	0	1	1	2	−1
Total	66	37	13	16	91	56	+35

West African Nations Cup [SCSA Zone III] Record

Year	Venue	Round	Position	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1982	Benin	Final	Winner	5	3	2	0	14	8	+6
1983	Ivory Coast	Final	Winner	4	3	1	0	7	2	+5
1984	Burkina Faso	Final	Winner	5	2	3	0	9	5	+4
1986	Ghana	Final	Winner	6	5	1	0	12	2	+10
1987	Liberia	Final	Winner	5	5	0	0	14	2	+12
Total	5/5	5 Finals	5 Championships	25	18	7	0	56	19	+37

• The Tournament was not held in 1985.

See also

• 1963 African Cup of Nations – Host
• 1978 African Cup of Nations – Host
• 2000 African Cup of Nations – Co-Host
• 2008 African Cup of Nations – Host
• African Footballer of the Year

External links

• Ghana Football Association official site
• Looking back at Ghana's World Cup 2006 at View Ghana
• Ghana List of International Matches at RSSSF